This invention relates generally to electrical jacks and more particularly to electrical jacks adapted to receive an electrical jack plug and provide electrical connection to a printed circuit board disposed in a plane parallel to the axis of the electrical jack plug.
As is known in the art, it is sometimes desirable to have electrical contact members of an electrical jack plug disposed orthogonal to the axis of a plug insertable into the jack housing. Such jacks are then adapted for mounting to a vertical conductive panel, as in a telephone switch board, to receive a jack plug as it is inserted into the housing along an axis orthogonal to the plane of the vertical panel. The electrical connectors extend vertically from a cavity defined by the walls of the jack housing, where they make proper electrical contact to selected isolated regions of the jack plug, for engagement with conductors or contacts of a horizontally disposed printed circuit board. In some applications it is desired to electrically connect a portion of the jack plug to the vertical conductive panel while in other applications it is desired that such portion of the jack plug be electrically insulated from the panel. It is also desirable to integrally form or mold the housing with an open top so that the electrical contacts having portions disposed within the cavity of the housing for engagement with portions of the inserted jack plug may be easily inserted through the open top into slots formed in the walls of the housing. However, in many applications it is sometimes necessary to provide a dust cover for the housing after the contacts have been inserted within the housing. Further, in order to reduce the cost of the jack, it is desired to have as few parts as possible. It follows then that it is desirable to integrate as many functions as possible into each component of the jack in order to reduce its cost.